Antonio Rogerio Nogueira un-retired almost two years after his final UFC appearance to defeat fellow octagon veteran Leonardo Guimaraes via decision in a boxing match in the co-main event of Sunday night’s Fight Music Show in Balneario Camboriu, Brazil.
The match was advertised as a professional boxing bout, but turned out to be an eight-round exhibition contest. The scorecards weren’t announced. Nogueira walked away from MMA with a record of 23-10, while “Leleco” dropped to 13-8-1 and one no-contest following a decision defeat to Viktor Nemkov this past December.
Nogueira won a bronze in boxing at the 2007 Pan-American Games Rio de Janeiro. Guimaraes connected more quickly, despite his poor technique of throwing looping hands and sloppy technique.
Nogueira’s left hand landed at will in round two, with Guimaraes aiming at the body but not connecting anything decent. Guimaraes opened a cut over Nogueira’s left eye in the third, and the boxing match turned into a wild brawl.
Round four started with Guimaraes spinning like he was going for a spinning back fist in a boxing match, which isn’t legal. Guimarees dropped his hands and began to showboat as Nogueira continued to attack fiercely. The action stopped when the doctor was called to check a cut under Guimaraes’ left eye.
The wild contest continued for the final four round with Nogueira using his crisp boxing and Guimaraes using more of a wild, sloppy approach that worked at times. Nogueira prevailed by unanimous vote.
Marco Tulio Silva defeated Glaico Franca, the winner of TUF Brazil via second round TKO. Brazilian prospects Stephanie Luciano and Pedro Machado lost decisions to Andressa Romero and Marcelo Marques, respectively. The final MMA bout on the lineup had Mario Sousa stopping Antonio Gordillo in the opening round via TKO.
